I Remember
by Arkham's Angel
Summary: I had always wondered where I'd known him from. There was always a faint recognition whenever his voice came on the news or a little wisp of memory that popped up when his face appeared in the newspapers, that slipped away before I could grasp it to really remember. I knew him. And by the look in his eye before he killed me, I knew he remembered too... Joker/OC Rating may go up.
1. Chapter 1

**Heya guys, this is a story with an OC (Charlie) who recognizes the Joker. This is her story, hope you like it!**

_I had always wondered where I'd known him from. There was always that little niggling in the back of my mind. There was always a faint recognition whenever his voice came on the news or a little wisp of memory that popped up when his face appeared in the newspapers, just to slip away before I could grasp it and really remember. I knew him. And by the look in his eye just before he killed me, I knew he remembered too..._

"Charlie!" a high pitched squeal filled Charlie's ears over the sound of the students shouting to others and lockers slamming, mobiles chirping, all the general noise that usually surrounds high school seniors, she spun around with a huge grin plastering her face.

_"She's back!" Charlie mentally rejoiced._

"Tanya!" She called back. Tanya, Charlie's best friend had just been on a two week holiday, but it felt like it had been an age to the partners in crime. Charlie ran toward her friend with outstretched arms, "Hiya, honey." she said embracing her friend. "How was jolly old London?"

"Great, we went to the theater and shopping was amazing. We went to a fashion show-" Charlie rolled her eyes as her friend babbled. Don't get her wrong, Charlie loved her friend, but Tanya could _talk_. So she started reciting her preparation for her Spanish speaking exam in her head. She was so engrossed in trying to remember the correct verb ending for "travel" if it was past tense ("viajado" if you were wondering), that she walked straight into someone.

She felt herself begin to fall, but a hand gripped the front of her sweatshirt and held her up. When she got her balance back, she found herself looking into a hard brown eye. Dirty blonde hair obscured one eye completely and strands fell down over the other, so she could only see one.

"You should be more careful." Came an almost bored sounding voice. But it was such a soft, low sound. If sound had a texture, this one would be velvet.

" _I'm sorry, my fault._" she said straightening my jumper.

"_Don't be sorry, No harm done._ " he replied

"_Good. Are you new here?_" she asked, gesturing to the little yellow slip in his hand. His timetable. It looked freshly printed.

"_Yeah, my parents and me moved from Australia_" he smiled.

"_The weather here will be a shock then._" she laughed once.

"_It is. What's your name_?" he asked

"_I'm Charlie this is Tanya, and you?_" she gestured to her friend as she mentioned her.

"_Jack. See you around Charlie_." he said as the bell sounded.

Charlie smiled and moved herself against the lockers so he could pass.

"He seems nice." Charlie said to Tanya, who was standing with her mouth slightly open. "What?" Charlie asked.

"But. What? What? Why? What were you talking about? What did you say about me?" Tanya stuttered then demanded.

"You heard me, didn't you?" Charlie asked, baffled.

"Yeah, but I took French, you know that."

"Eh? What's French got to do with anything?"

"You do realize that for that entire conversation with him you were speaking Spanish, right?" Tanya gawked.

Charlie was dumbstruck, she whacked her head against the locker, "_Mierda_" she groaned.

"I know that one," Tanya muttered. "Hey, maybe you can pass off as a foreign exchange student?" Tanya suggested. She was met with a glare and the sound of head-meets-locker-again. Charlie looked up to see the boy walking toward English. Knowing she would have to go the same way. She silently prayed she'd have a different class to him.

But God/Allah/Whoever else was up there, was obviously sticking their fingers in their ears and LA, LA, LA-ing because when Charlie walked in the classroom to her lesson and, lo and behold, there the new kid, Jack, was. In the chair next to hers.

_Mierda_.

**Okay, first installment right there for you :). Hope you enjoyed. Constructive criticism welcome, appreciated and wanted, if you would be so kind to click the little "review button" if not it's all good. I enjoy writing I just like to be told how to improve.#**

**"HOW JACK AND CHARLIE'S CONVERSATION SOUNDED TO TANYA AND EVERYONE IN HEARING RANGE (in case you were interested)!"**

**"Lo siento, es mi culpa."-Charlie**

**"No lo sientas, no pasa nada."-Jack**

**"Bien. ¿Eres nuevo aquí?"- Charlie**

**"Si, me mudé y yo aquí desde australia."- Jack**

**"El tiempo aquí va a ser un shock luego."- Charlie**

**"Es, Como te llamas?"- Jack**

**"Soy Charlie y es Tanya,¿y tú?"- Charlie**

**"Jack. Ya nos veremos, Charlie"- Jack**

**And "Mierda" means "shit".**

**Hugs and cookies, **

**Love Em x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 up, Thanks very much to Lyra Raine Sparrow for her review and for following this story, I feel so loved :)**

_**Joker: She doesn't love you; she just liked the story and ME!**_

_**Me: SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP! *Foams at mouth***_

_**Joker: *Backs away slowly, fingering knife and cackling* I broke it...**_

_**Me: I'm not an "It" I'm a SHE...Hey come back! Listen to me! Oh whatever...**_

**Anyway...Enjoy**

****The classroom was a dull grey color, the tables and chairs had year's worth of wear and tear. The room stank of sweat which had been tried and failed to be covered by numerous perfumes and aerosols. Students were sitting quietly, well as quiet as High School Seniors could be. Some stood, flitting around the classroom collecting equipment or dictionaries, but really it was an opportunity to pass their friends and talk for twenty or so seconds. Nobody ever needs a dictionary. Thesauruses are cool though.

Groaning internally Charlie hid her blush behind her English folder and sank into her seat. He didn't even look up at her, his hair fell into his eyes again and said eyes were zipping left to right over the book they were studying, "The Face of Death". You could practically feel the heat from the intensity from his stare at the words on the fresh, crisp page and could almost see the information burning itself on his cranium.

Silently glad that he hadn't noticed her and hoping he wouldn't for the rest of, hmm, the next, forever? She pulled out her book and flipped to the start. She'd already finished but wanted to read again with new hindsight. She thought books were better the second time around, when you knew that Mr Plum did it in the study with a rope, you could see the hints that lead to it that you missed the first time.

"Only just starting?" A platitudinous voice came from over her.

"No, sir" she said looking up to her teacher, Mr. Peters. "I'm re-reading it."

"Oh really," he asked sceptically. "Who was the murderer?" he quizzed.

"A boy who was kidnapped and taken into child prostitution, he was rescued by the police but they let their guard down and he was taken again. One of the guards was Sarah's grandfather. That's why he wanted to ruin her life. Her pain was his justice." she said with a smug smile.  
Mr. Peter's lips thinned and he turned on his heel and stalked to try and find someone to yell at for sneezing out of turn or something. Teachers do that.

"Well, I guess I don't have to read it now. You should really say 'Spoiler Alert', you know." she turned to the seat next to her to find Jack giving her a lopsided grin.

"Oh, sorry." she grimaced and fiddled with a lock of her dark brunette hair. A nervous habit she'd picked up from when she'd been trying to stop biting her nails (which were cracked, peeling paint and in desperate need of a manicure at the moment. She hadn't pampered herself since she was fifteen).

"And I was very surprised to see you talking such fluent English," he smiled. Charlie blushed furiously and turned away.

"Hey, I was just kidding." he flicked the book open again and continued reading. "I love this book." he muttered almost to himself.

"Really? Most people in here think it's really creepy." I shrugged flipping to my favorite part, where Sarah writes in her diary.

"And you don't?" He raised an eyebrow, "You don't seem like a "Slasher Book" fan." He stated, narrowing his eyes as he studied her.

"Don't judge a book by its cover." She smiled, not looking up from her book.

"But sometimes covers are pretty damn accurate." He said darkly. Charlie tossed her dark hair so she could look him in the eyes as best she could. As if sensing her intentions he copied her and moved the hair away from his own eyes. Their gaze met and Charlie found herself stuck in it. The heat of the moment made her start breathing harder and her hands turn clammy. Her tongue snaked out of her mouth and wet her parched lips. She turned away from his gaze, the intensity was making her squirm, but his gaze was captivation. He could will a wild animal into a cage without a word, just with those eyes.

She could feel his gaze still on her, she tried to concentrate on her book, but she ended up staring at the same point for forty minutes. She knew he kept looking at her, the creep. She saw whenever she was sneaking glances at him.

"I know you're not reading that." He said mockingly, "Have I got under your skin?" he asked.

"More than a scarab beetle, and I've barley had a conversation with you." She muttered.

"On the contrary, we had a lovely conversation in the hallway." He snickered.

"Oh, well let's relive that," she knew Mr Peters couldn't speak Spanish, they could say they were just practicing for class if they were caught. "_Why are you such a prick?"_

"_Why are you so touchy?_"he countered.

"_I'm not, you're just, ugh,_" she groaned, "_Just forget it._"

"_No_," he dead-panned, "_You interest me_," he smirked.

Arrogant shit, Charlie thought.

"_Whatever, read the book_," she clicked her tongue in annoyance and closed her book and pulled out her sketchpad. She couldn't concentrate on any type of literature at the moment. She started to draw. Her feelings poured onto the page in a flurry of over-exaggerated strokes and small rushes of back and forth strokes for definition. She sighed contentedly.

Charlie packed her sketchpad away as the bell droned and stood to leave the room. She saw Tanya leaving the adjoining room and ran to join her. The two embraced quickly and Tanya giggled suddenly.

"What?" Charlie sighed, leaning against the row of lockers as she shrugged off her bag to replace her English folder with her Science book for the spot in her bag.

"Hottie McNewGuy is staring at you." She gushed.

"Yeah he did it all through English," she groaned into her locker's innards.

"OMiGod tell me everything!" she squeaked.

Charlie groaned, but knowing her friend's relentless attitude to getting gossip (not that she'd spread it, she just liked to know), recounted the last hour's events, with many exited squeals from Tanya.

"Ah, you're perfect for each other." Tanya said wistfully.

"But I just told you how annoying he is," Charlie grumbled, "Stupid, annoying, arrogant, if slightly attractive, conciet-"

"AHA!" Tanya interrupted, "So you think he's hot!" she accused smugly.

"Well, yeah," Charlie conceded, "But he's a tool."

"Okay, if you say so." Tanya said in a sing-song voice that showed she didn't believe her even more than if she'd have said it.

_Don't you dare_, Charlie mouthed as they passed the boy they'd been talking about, knowing Tanya was about to talk to him. Tanya frowned but nodded with a look that clearly read "Tonight, or else," and the two walked away from the hot, annoying prick.

**Okay, there you go, please review and tell me if you're enjoying it :)**

**I couldn't resist giving him a McNickname XD Tanya seems like that type of girl **

**Hugs and cookies, **

**Love Em x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okie-Kokie here's chapter 3, this one is going to be a little bit of filler to the beginning, but it is needed just for general info :3 Enjoy!**

**Thanks to:**

**LittleBittyPrincessKiller: I'm glad you're enjoying it :D and yeah, I think there should be more stories with him, but oh well. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! :'D**

**Chasing Constellations: Thank you! Here's the update for ya!**

**And thanks to Andromeda Athena for following the story!**

**Joker: Just get on with it, would ya, Dollface?**

**Me: I would have done already if you hadn't interrupted.**

**Joker:...Fair enough...**

**Me: I WIN! *Happy dance***

**Joker: *facepalm* Get over yourself.**

**Me: Let me have my moment *Continues happy dancing***

**Joker... Finished?**

**Me: Yeah, I'm good.**

**ENJOY!**

As Charlie walked home from school that day, she thought about nothing but Jack Napier. He buzzed around in her every thought, like an annoying gang of mosquitoes. She tried to think about something else. Anything else. But every thought she had seemed to come back to him. If she tried to focus on her plans for the weekend, his voice flitted in her head. If she tried to concentrate on the music blasting out from her ear-phones, she'd start imagining if he was a good dancer or not. How he'd hold her if they danced together. How she'd fit against his chest...

She honestly tried to forget about him, but to no avail. He was like an infectious song that ran around in your head all day. She'd hope that it would only last the rest of the day. She didn't think she'd be able to stand having him in her every thought forever.

She turned onto her street, it wasn't in a terrible area. She wouldn't say it was in a good area. Nowhere in Gotham was really good. The crime rate was the highest in the state. Hell, it was probably the highest in the Goddamn country. But it wasn't The Narrows, so that was something.

Her dad had been in the army, so they'd never been really short of money. Sure, there were the months when they'd had to cut back for a while, have own brand shop goods instead of big name labels (which, by the way, is an excellent money saving tip, most of it tastes exactly the same, in Charlie's opinion) but they'd always bounced back.

She turned onto her street and straight onto her drive, their house was the first on the street. They'd actually got it for a bit cheaper because of that, apparently you were more likely to be robbed the closer to the start of the street you were. Made sense, if you were a robber you'd want to be near the opening to make a quick get-a-way. But they hadn't been robbed yet, like she said, it wasn't the Narrows.

She unlocked the door and went straight to her room. Her brother had some kind of sports club, probably hockey today, and her Mom would be home later on since she had the late shift at the clinic.

So, after dumping her sweatshirt on her bed, Charlie sat at her computer tapping away at the outdated keyboard, she sighed and ran her long fingers through her hair. It had been a stressful day. Not only had she had to put up with that insufferable git in the majority of her lessons, and then she'd had to deal with her even more annoying brother and mother at tea time, but she'd been set homework in almost all of her classes, plus she had to be at work the following day, so she needed to do her laundry and make sure her brother was behaving whilst her mom worked the night shift tomorrow.

It's not that she didn't love her family, or even that she sincerely disliked them; they just got on her every nerve sometimes. It was just one of those days. She gave up on her English homework and opened her Facebook; she never really went on it anymore. She was sick of seeing pre-teen girls necking vodka from the bottle with the only justification for their actions being "#YOLO". Really? Her dad knew the real meaning of YOLO, so he decided to do something useful. Even though he'd split like a ripe banana, she respected him for that.

Anyway, back to Facebook. She'd rather actually meet up with her friends, and if she wanted to talk she'd call someone. She was an excellent judge of character, but identifying sarcasm over the internet? Not so much. But she had to admit, the majority of people did use the damn website, so it was the easiest way to get a hold of Tanya. She logged on and (surprise, surprise.) Tanya had already sent her a message demanding about twenty answers before she remembered to say "Hello".

With a chuckle at her friend's persistence, she tapped out a reply.

_Yes I'm home now. No I'm hardly ever online. Yes he was in my Drama, History and Art classes too. And he seemed to become an even bigger prat as the day went on. You happy now?_

Tanya's reply came through almost instantly:

_I bet you secretly love it, I don't honestly know how you live without any attention... I wish he'd look at me the way he looks at you...Actually I wish any guy would D:_

_You're only saying that because it's nearly Valentines and you're worried you won't have a date to the dance. _Charlie tapped back with a grin; Tanya was such a girl sometimes. Then she frowned as she read the realised what Tanya was implying, so she added: _And how does he look at me?_

_Well, it took me two days of shopping to find the perfect dress. I need a date. That time will not be wasted! And you have to have noticed! He looks at you like you're the sexiest damn thing ever!_

Charlie grimaced, she really hoped Tanya was just trying to play Cupid again, if Jack really did think of her like that, she'd start wearing really baggy sweaters whenever she knew they'd have classes together. Charlie wasn't ugly, not in any way. But she wasn't used to being called pretty, and definitely not "the sexiest damn thing ever" as Tanya put it. She wasn't used to having attention. Mostly because she didn't want it. She'd always been shy, she really only started being a lot more sociable in the past two years, a lot of the old insecurities still remained.

Anyway, when you have a friend as exuberant as Tanya, you never really got any of the spotlight, and that was how Charlie liked it. So she typed back a very carefully worded response. This was a necessary precaution when talking to Tanya, she was a great friend, but she also liked to twist what you say so you admit to things you don't really think. Even though, Charlie had to concede grudgingly, most of the time she was actually very good at getting you to admit things you _did_ think, but you hadn't accepted yet.

_He doesn't think that, Tan. The guy's only known me a day. I think he's just one of those guys that likes a challenge or something. Or maybe he thinks I'm playing hard-to-get? He'll get over it._

For a moment Tanya didn't reply, but then a message popped up on the screen. Six words. Just six little words. But they made Charlie silent. They made her think. Six words:

_But do you want him to?_

Did she? Did she really want all the attention to stop? What about the butterflies she got whenever she saw Jack looking at her? The way she lost her words when he looked into her eyes? Or even the way she hadn't stopped talking or thinking about him since they'd (quite literally) bumped into each other in the hallway? Charlie leant back in her desk chair and closed her eyes. She imagined what he would do if she batted her eyelids, maybe bent over in front of him on purpose. She blanched. She couldn't even imagine it. She wasn't a flirty girl by nature. But, more than that. She couldn't picture his reaction at all. Would he be angry? Would he laugh? Would he get..."exited"? She didn't know. She shook her head, "_Get it together Char_," she chastised herself, "_you've known him a day and your already imagining him with a boner". _She messaged Tanya a quick "_Gotta go_" and signed off.

She had so much homework that needed to be done, but Charlie could win an award for procrastination. Hell, she could procrastinate for America. Anyway, any work she would have done then would have been complete mush, no use trying to get stuck into homework you'd just mess up. When you can't even solve your own life, why try dissecting a fictional character's? With that in mind, Charlie lounged on her bed and continued reading "The Face of Death".

About an hour and 200 pages later, Charlie heard her Mum call her from the bottom of the stairs that tea was ready. Charlie was surprised her mom was back, she hadn't even heard her come in, let alone have time to cook a meal. Then again, it wasn't really a surprise, Charlie always got really engrossed in a good book. Charlie walked down the stairs to and into the dining room. At the table sat her annoying little brother and her overly-caring mother. Since Daddy dearest had buggered off the scene when Charlie was eight or so there was always a space at the table which seemed very, very empty. The smell of lasagne filled the air and Charlie realised she hadn't actually eaten since yesterday. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not like she was anorexic or had any type of eating disorder, she just got very side-tracked in the mornings so she barley ever had time for breakfast, and that meant she definitely didn't have time to make a lunch, and she didn't trust school meals since she found a very short hair in one when she was ten. All of the lunch ladies were women with long hair. Think about that...

So she sat and realising her ravenous-ness, quickly picked up her knife and fork and dug in.

"Jeez, Char, what are you, part vacuum?" asked Jeff as he watched her wolf down her cheesy pasta and mince.

"Shut up, squirt." Charlie said very unattractively around a mouthful of food, "Or I'll tell Mom about the detention you've been trying so hard to keep from her."

"How do you know about that?!" He hissed so their mom wouldn't hear.

"Big Sisters' Intuition, Jeffrey." she replied, grabbing a slice of garlic bread. Jeff frowned at her evasive answer, and even more at the use of his full name.

"Fine just don't tell her." He submitted, stabbing his fork into his meal.

"Who's 'she'? The cat's mother?" Came the chipper, if accusatory tone of Ester, the two teen's mother, looking up from her plate.

"No Mom, we were just talking about this girl that Jeff has a huge crush on," Charlie grinned at her brother. She liked to mess with him. He couldn't deny it or he'd have to tell Mom about the detention, but at the same time, there was no girl. Oh the dilemma! But don't feel too bad for the kid, it was Charlie's duty, besides, she knew he'd get her back for it later. So she watched; choking back laughter, as Jeff tried in vain to deny the imaginary love interest to him Mom's drilling questions.

When the three had finished the meal, they sat talking with cups of tea about the day. "Family time". They called it, mostly it lasted about an hour, of which most was spent sipping at the beverages in front of them. Actually, most of the time for Charlie was spent with eyes directed at her phone, concealed in her lap, as she texted Tanya. That was what she was doing at that exact moment.

Her's and Tanya's texts flew from phone to satellite to phone again as they made plans for Tanya to come and save her from "Torture Time" as the two had jokingly called it. Rescue pan made, Charlie sat back and tried to get some stimulating conversation from her family.

No such luck.

So for ten gruellingly long minutes, she sat in awkward half-silence as her waited for her saviour. Finally, the doorbell rang and, so as not to look suspicious, Charlie let her mother answer the door. A minute later came the call of "Nic, it's for you!"

Running to the door and preparing to drag Tanya in and up to her room. She stopped dead. In fact, she was pretty sure her heart stopped momentarily.

It was kind of like a dream, where everything just became complete nonsense. Like she'd just fallen down a rabbit hole and into a tea party where there was no time.

Someone was at the door for her. But not Tanya

Once again, whoever was up in the sky was obviously having a great laugh at her expense because Tanya wasn't at the door. Jack was.

_"God dammit"_ Charlie thought as she watched her Mom return to the dining room. Keeping a friendly facade until her Mom was out of ear and eye shot, she then slumped against the door frame and muttered out a less than hospitable:

"What do you want?" as she rested her head on the wooden frame. She hated to admit it, but he looked pretty damn good. As he grinned at her, she noticed his clothes for the first time, a leather jacket, skinny trousers and a green T-shirt that clung to his chest. He wasn't overly muscular, but he was defined. In fact, was that a six pack?! He'd customised the look with a chain around his neck and a messenger bag that looked as though he had done the design himself, or at the very least stencilled it on. Charlie averted her eyes from his abdomen before she started drooling.

Actually, now she thought about it, she wasn't exactly dressed for polite company. Well, maybe polite wasn't the right word in regards to Jack Napier. But she was dressed more for if Tanya had come round. The sweatshirt that she'd dumped on her bed had been concealing a deep purple V-neck top on and she had changed into a pair of skinny jeans that looked like they'd be choking off her blood supply, but were actually very comfortable. They made her ass look great. But, whereas that was usually a good thing, right now she was screwed, if she faced him, he could see a decent amount of cleavage from the top and if she turned he'd be able to see her butt, which did look pretty good in those jeans. Bugger.

"Rude. I only stopped by to see my new neighbour," he smirked.

Neighbour. Neighbour...NEIGHBOUR?! This was the thought process she was having, the articulate, witty and well-thought out response she actually gave was:

"Eh?" Complete with the fish-out-of-water expression and unattractive, gawking eyes. He snickered as she gaped at him and he laughed loudly when she jumped back about half a metre when he reached out and closed her open mouth for her. His hair still covered one eye, but from what she could see, his dark brown orbs were full of mirth and a slight wicked glee as he watched her correct herself after the shock. She glowered at him and walked forwards until their chests were practically touching, which in hindsight, wasn't the best plan since he towered over her. She looked into his eyes and whispered, "Get out." His grin faltered and he leaned forwards so their noses brushed against the other's.

"Why do I annoy you so much?" He breathed out. Charlie barley registered his words, his voice was like a caress; it floated around her and made her feel light and weightless, like she was on a cloud.

"Because you're an insufferable git?" she asked sarcastically, but breathlessly as he captivated her gaze. His lips lifted up and his hair fell from his eyes as he leaned down. He continued to lean in. _Holy crap on a cracker! He's gonna kiss me! _Charlie mentally yelled, but as he got closer, she noticed a thin, pink, raised line following the underside of his eye, the one usually covered by his hair. She raised a hand to his face and stroked along it with her thumb. He stopped leaning in.

She felt him tense but he did not pull away. His eyes closed and he let out a breath that tickled against her wrist. He was breathing in short, shallow breaths. Charlie imagined she was too, but she was far too captivated in the intensity of the moment to notice her breathing patterns. His hand reached up and covered hers and he held it as though it were a dying baby bird. So gently, like he was afraid the slightest touch would kill it. He slowly opened his eyes, almost as if he were worried that it was a dream. He relaxed when he saw she was really there. Charlie, caught his look again and as she stared into the brown depths, she felt herself leaning in closer to him.

She felt him leaning to her too.

Their eyes drifted closed.

She puckered her lips slightly.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" came the jokingly accusatory voice of Tanya.

Shit.

**There you go peoples :3 Quite happy with how this one turned out...BUT! I'm very awkward about posting; I always want to keep it away from where people can see it, in case I make it Mary-sue-ish or just plain crap. So, I've got a Beta! Somniac7 thank you so much!**

**Joker: You're so desperate**

**Me: Shut up, I want my viewers to get a good update, and heaven forbid we make you a goody-goody teenager.**

**Joker: OH GOD NO! THE MENTAL IMAGES! *Swipes at mental images with knife* Somniac7 BETA. BETA QUICKLY!**

**Me: Okay that's enough...**

**Joker: I HAVE ABSOLUTLEY NO FAITH IN HER. SHE'LL MAKE ME A GOOD GUY. SHE'LL MAKE CHARLIE AND ME ALL CUTE AND HAPPY AND CUTE AND...OH GOD *Throws up***

**Me:...Thanks for the confidence boost...**

**Anyway...Until next time!**

**Hugs and cookies,**

**Arkham's Angel (Emma)**


	4. AN

HELLO! Sorry about not posting, and I know you'll hate me for this authors note, I know I hate them, but I promise a new chapter is almost here! AND I THINK YOU'LL LIKE IT! But this little A/N is just to let you know about my new Facebook page, I made one because I am a technological retard and can't figure out how to post pictures on Deviant Art. Or Tumblr. So I'm using the Facebook to let you know of any news with the stories so I don't have to keep doing Author's notes and any fanart you guys do you can post on there, and questions you don't want to leave in a review. You can share anything I put on that you think is cool on your Facebook's ect ect ect ...

So search Facebook for Arkham's Angel under "People" and it will have the same DP as on here xx

And drop me any artwork, or any problems you're having with the story you don't want to leave in a review, but obviously review on here too, so I can see how popular the story is!

Thanks so much for continuing to read this story, I promise an update will be coming your way soon!

Love,

Arkham's Angel xxx


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! Sorry about the late update, but when writer's block strikes, what can you do? As always thank you for reading, and please leave a review to tell me how I'm doing! **

**Also, I now have a Facebook account as I've realised I cannot computer :/ So if I have artwork I'll post it on my Facebook rather than Deviant Art or Tumblr. **

**Also, if anyone has artwork of Charlie or Jack or Tanya, even of littler characters like Jeffrey (Charlie's little brother), I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT! Please post it onto my Facebook account :3(Just search on Facebook for Arkham's Angel in "People")**

**And as usual I do not own Batman, any of the characters you recognize belong to DC Comics and their respective owners. DON'T SUE ME! But believe me if I had all the money in the world, buying The Joker would be one of the first things I did...*sigh***

**Thanks very much to:**

**Goth**

**Swindleheart: I am SO sorry, but I wanted to let people know one was seriously on the way, AND HERE IT IS! But ...well...I have no excuses, it seemed like a good idea at the time...oh well...anyway, it's nice to know you're enjoying my stories, I am going to try to update more regularly...ENJOY!**

**Lyra Raine Sparrow for her awesome review! I hope you like the update! **

**And Thanks always to my Beta Somniac7, you guys should check him out, he's awesome and an amazing writer!**

**Joker: Why don't you stop singing his bloody praises and get on with the story?**

**Me: Oh, can it would ya? I'm sick to death of you!**

**Joker: "To death" can be arranged, doll.**

**Me: I'll be good. Don't hurt me. *Squeaks and hides***

**Joker: *evil chuckle* ...Here. We. Go.**

"Well, well, well." Tanya smirked, "What have I interrupted here?" Tanya stood with her bag slung over one shoulder in a simple shorts and tee combination. She looked cool with her fringe draping carelessly over her forehead and tanned arms folded across her chest. Her eyebrows had almost disappeared into her hair with how high they had shot up when she saw Charlie and Jack barley millimetres apart and her were eyes were wide with shock.

Charlie's head was swimming with millions of thoughts; _Oh crap...she's never going to let this go...I'm so dead...Why isn't he pulling away?...WHY AREN'T I PULLING AWAY!?_

At the last thought Charlie yanked herself away from Jack as if he had burned her, she realized her palms were clammy and her heart was beating wildly. As Charlie struggled to get her breathing under control, as she realized it must have sped up dramatically at her and Jack's "almost-kiss". This made her blush deeper cerise than she already was, as the dots connected in her mind that her body's reactions to her nearly kissing Jack, meant she liked him.

Oh Hell.

Charlie struggled to keep all this in mind without igniting and exploding in a firework display of colourful thoughts, as she watched Jack seeming to struggle to get his own breathing into regulation. She grimaced at the thought of the ridiculous amount of questions Tanya would drill her with at the nearest possible opportunity.

"Well, thanks for that, Charlie." Came Jack's caressing tone, and Charlie found her stomach to be squirming pleasantly as her name rolled off his tongue, "We'll have to do it again sometime, but for now, I'm afraid I have to get to work." And with a wink, he lifted her hand up to his lips, taking great care to go slowly and never breaking eye contact with her for a second, he glided her hand past his abdomen, taking great pleasure as her eyes flitted to his well-toned chest before meeting his gaze again, still bringing her hand further upward, as he continued to gaze into her eyes, holding her transfixed in his, he brought her small hand to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to the topside of her hand. Smirking all the bloody while.

Git.

Tanya also held a bit of a smirk on her face, and an air of satisfied arrogance encircled her like a halo of smugness. Obviously she had seen the almost kiss and, being Tanya, had jumped to conclusions within a matter of seconds. Charlie could practically see the cogs turning and see the thoughts in Tanya's head becoming wilder and even less plausible. She was probably already planning a June wedding for them. Oh hell...

Charlie, now standing as far away as she could from Jack, and failing miserably considering the porch was only big enough for one person, some coats and other such things, and currently it contained three people, four pairs of shoes, two bikes, one set of roller skates and two discarded sports bags which actually stank a fair bit. Goddamn Jeffery with his goddamn sports.

Jack turned to leave and as he walked past Tanya he grinned and winked at her cheekily, Tanya being the girl she was, giggled like a love-struck idiot on LSD and twiddled a strand of dark ebony hair around one of her long slim fingers. She was a flirt by nature, she'd flirt with anyone, from the Jocks who everyone knew were only after your boobies, right down to the nerds who sat in the library to read at lunch rather than eat. She was never actually going to try and be serious with any of them, in fact you could say she wasn't really flirting with them at all, because when Tanya actually did flirt, she wouldn't giggle like she was an empty-headed Miss America hopeful, she'd just become their friend and try to become more than that, so really, she wasn't flirting with Jack at all.

But, of course, Jack didn't know this.

So, much to Charlie's disappointment, he lifted Tanya's hand to his lips and kissed the top of her hand too.

Wait!

_"Why am I disappointed?"_ Charlie wondered. She shouldn't be upset if Jack kissed Tanya's hand too.

Well, they had been having a moment before Tanya interrupted. She and Jack had almost kissed, and Charlie didn't generally go around just kissing boys. It would have been a big deal to her, not just something to be taken lightly. Jack obviously thought she was some kind of easy girl now. Goddamn it. They hadn't kissed though, so really Jack couldn't say anything about her. But she would have kissed him. If Tanya hadn't turned up, she would have let him kiss her. Her first kiss gone. Finished. Over. Another thing she'd never get to experience for the first time ever again. Did she really want that to be with Jack. No, she was shocked to find herself answering with no hint of uncertainty or reservation. She didn't want her first kiss to be wasted on him. For goodness sake she'd barley had five conversations with him, and to be honest, the ones she had had with him, hadn't been particularly pleasant.

So why couldn't she stop thinking about him all the time? Why did she almost let him kiss her? She honestly couldn't work it out. So she let it drop, for the moment anyway.

Snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Jack start to exit the porch onto the driveway, she called out a half choked "Bye then." And was swiftly yanked into the house and up the stairs into her bedroom by Tanya,

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch." Charlie yelped as she was dragged into her room and deposited onto the bed.

"Spill. Everything. Now." Tanya half demanded and half sighed. Whether the sigh was contentment at her matchmaking or jealousy, Charlie never asked. Tanya placed herself down on the plush covers on the double bed.

Charlie wasn't rich. At least not in the way that, that Bruce Wayne kid in the year above her was. He was some kind of child billionaire, something to do with his parents dyeing and leaving him shed loads of cash. Charlie never really listened to the gossip.

Anyway, no she wasn't a billionaire, but she was decently well off. Well enough off that her room had a fairly large HD TV and tons of films to go with it. She had a large traditional vanity in one corner where the most sunlight it in the morning so it gave her the most natural light by which to apply her make-up, because there isn't anything more of a disaster in the world of make-up than applying it to look perfect in florescent lights, stepping outside into the sun and looking like either a pasty, pale albino, or an Oompa Loompa. Not a good look either way.

Upon the vanity sat a pair of reliable straighteners, a pair of seldom used curlers and an even less used pair of crimpers, I mean seriously, who crimps their hair in high school? Besides, even if crimping magically came back into fashion, Charlie's hair was unruly enough as it was and crimping it would make it look like a small afro. Trust me. She had tried. She looked like one of the Troll Dolls. It wasn't a good day...

Her room itself was a fair size, it had once been bigger, but they'd portioned a section off and made it into an en suite bathroom.

The room was painted a pale shade of blue. Most people who would come to the house would have assumed that this was Jeffery's room, blue being one of the colours more commonly associated with the male gender, especially since Jeff's room was painted a lovely shade of delicate pink.

Charlie loved Jeff, but as mentioned before, loved to tease him. One of the main things she used to tease him about was his constant queer attitude. Queer as in slightly poof-ish, not queer as in odd. She'd always call him a queer, not spitefully or nastily, just in a sisterly nickname type of way. Turns out, she was right.

_One day around August the previous year, Jeff had come into Charlie's room, fidgeting with his hands and looking deeply embarrassed. Charlie had assumed he'd just found mom's box of tampons or something. _

_But no._

_ He'd actually been out with friends playing dares and at one point, as it always does, it turned to kissing. Jeff had been dared to kiss one of his friends, James. Turns out Jeff liked it more than he thought he should have. He'd made an excuse to leave and ran all the way home to confide in his big sister._

_So, as he'd sat on her bed, twisting the fabric of the bed sheets in his hands, he told her his story and sat with worry in his eyes, almost as if he expected a scolding for having thoughts about the same sex. When he'd finished his tale, Charlie shuffled close to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him so his head rested on her shoulder. She stroked his hair in the way she knew he secretly loved, but would never let anyone do in case he look like a little kid. She stayed silent for a few moments so he would relax, then she told him everything he needed to know. _

_"Look," she began, "for starters, I think you're really brave for telling me, a lot of people don't. But it's okay. Being gay isn't anything to be ashamed or worried about. Anyway, you might not be gay," at his confused look, she elaborated, "just because you liked kissing a guy, doesn't make you gay. You could be Bi, Bi curious, you could be straight. Look, mouths mostly feel the same, right? So, really you could have just liked the way he, in particular, kissed you. It could have happened just the same with a girl. So don't get too worried anyway. But, if you do turn out to be gay. It's fine. I'm not gonna say it's gonna make life easy. In fact, there will be people out there who'll judge you for it. But, if they really have so little going on in their life, that they need to pick on another kid, for something that has nothing to do with them, that's their problem. Don't take it either. You're a tough kid, kick the crap outta them!" she finished, looking him in the eye and smiling slightly. He was smiling too, and he nodded. _

_"Don't tell Mom?" he asked in a whisper. _

_"I won't, but you should," at his look of horror, she laughed once, "it doesn't have to be now. Give it some time and figure out for yourself what's going on. But if you do realize you're gay, tell her. She's your mom; she has a right to know."_

_"Okay." He slowly unfolded himself from her arm, "Thank you." He muttered, Charlie smiled brightly, he never really showed gratitude to her, that meant she had leverage over him later to make him do something she didn't want to._

_"You're welcome, kiddo."_

"There's nothing to tell." Charlie mumbled as she lay down on her bed.

"Uh-huh, right, so that's why you were eating his face?" Charlie both laughed and grimaced at Tanya's accusations.

"We weren't even kissing!" She pointed out.

"But you were so about to!" Tanya interjected, "I should have stayed home for five more minutes, and then you would have kissed, he'd have asked you out and then we could have doubled to the dance tomorrow!" She sighed dreamily at her fantasised turn of events as she rummaged in her bag for something, a moment later she pulled out a pack of Maltesers looking triumphant. She opened the packet and, after popping one into her own mouth, handed the pack to Charlie. Charlie took them gratefully and as she crunched down on the chocolate covered...what the hell was the inside of a Malteser anyway? Anyway, it was delicious and crunchy and she loved it. So as she munched away she tried to think of answers to some questions she knew Tanya would be likely to ask.

One: Why was he at your house?

Simple enough really. He'd popped over to see her, to meet his new neighbour. Nothing too romantic there.

Two: Why did you almost kiss?

That one wasn't so simple. Charlie actually didn't know why she'd almost kissed Jack. I guess the tension was thick, the heat was strong...he was as sexy as some of the most gorgeous men she fantasised over: Johnny Depp, Ian Somerhalder, Heath Ledger...you get the idea. But she didn't normally go for guys based on looks. Well, at least not _only_ on looks. So why had she nearly let him do it? One answer seemed to come to mind, albeit grudgingly. She had hoped it would get him out of her thoughts. Maybe if she gave into the thoughts that had flown through her cranium since she'd met the guy, he'd stop invading her brain every waking minute, and most of her sleeping ones. It was a weak and disappointing answer, and probably just an excuse for the real answer that she didn't have yet, but it was enough for now.

Three: Do you like him?

Again, a tricky one. She'd like to think that she despised Jack Napier. That she'd squish him under her shoe if she ever got the chance. But every time she'd imagine telling him exactly what she thought of him, Charlie would only get images of him pressing her up against the nearest wall, table, desk, counter or whatever was nearest and kissing her like she was water and he was a man that had been stuck in the desert for weeks. With need and with a passion that inflamed her entire being, a flame that spread like wildfire, through her body, piercing her lungs and as she gulped for air, he'd move his lips down her neck, sucking a biting the sensitive flesh there as she sighed his name, and he moaned hers:

"Charlie, Charlie, Charlie."

_Jack, Jack, Jack._

"Char, you still with me?"

_Of course I'm here, Jack. Don't stop._

"Charlie. Hello?"

_I'm right here, Jack._

"LISTEN!"

"Sorry Tan, I spaced out for a minute there." Charlie shook her daydream fantasy from her head. Goddamn whoever made female hormones. Damn them to hell!

"Yeah. No shit, Sherlock." Tanya stated with her signature sarcasm. Seriously the girl could sarcasm for Gotham. "Now are you ready to spill everything?" Charlie moaned but reluctantly answered all of Tanya's questions. As she predicted, Tanya asked her the three questions that she had thought she would. Those are the perks of having a best friend, you know them so well, so you could usually plan in advance for everything they would say or do. So Charlie repeated her inward answers to Tanya, obviously skimming over the parts where she'd slipped into her little fantasy.

Half an hour, a pack of Maltesers and an oath to secrecy later, Tanya was suitably satisfied with Charlie's responses and the two turned to more usual gossip.

"Wait, wait, wait! So he just asked you out!" Charlie exclaimed, bouncing slightly on her mattress, making the springs squeak slightly.

"I know!" Tanya responded just as excitedly. "Out of nowhere he came up to me in Double Chemistry and asked me to the dance!" Tanya squeaked.

"Oh, that's so cute! Brad's just so sweet, he used to be my partner in Mr. Frank's biology, but he kept getting nauseous whenever we dissected anything." Charlie blanched as she recalled the amount of sick that came out of Brad's mouth during the Great Sheep Lung Dissection Incident of '97. Gross.

"He's squeamish? That's adorable!" Tanya may as well have been surrounded by a million puppies with how full of "feels" she was right then.

"He is pretty cute, I'm so happy for you, Tan." Charlie said, "And this means that your billion hours of dress shopping won't go to waste." Charlie pointed out.

"I know, I was so relieved, I didn't want to have to go through the walk of shame to return a Valentine's Dance dress. That'd be so mortifying!" Tanya winced in actual horror; she was very attached to that dress. Charlie could actually sympathise, she'd once bought a dress that she had loved and couldn't wait to wear and then her date had cancelled, found a better date as it turns out. Ah, the drama of the teenage.

"I'm sure you and Brad will have a lot of fun." Charlie nodded her encouragement.

"Well, duh!" said Tanya sticking out her tongue as she lengthened the "urrr" in duh. "But you're coming too, so I don't see why you're telling me no-"

"I'm not coming." Charlie interrupted.

"What? Why?" Tanya demanded.

"No date, no dress, no dancing skills." Charlie counted them on her fingers.

"Date: Jack. Dress: Borrows one of mine and dancing? Nobody dances!" Tanya tried to persuade her best friend.

"No, Tan. I'm not going, end of discussion."

"But-"

"I said end of discussion. Closed. Finished. Done." Charlie stood up with a huff and yanked her wardrobe doors open.

From the small mass of clothes she pulled a jacket off a hanger and shrugged it on quickly.

"Walk with me? Charlie asked, she always got a clearer head on a walk. Fresh air was good for relieving stress.

"Sure." Tanya slipped her arms into her own coat and stood up, collecting her bag as she did so.

The two walked leisurely to the park, where the laughs of the kids on the playground filled the air and the smell of cigarette smoke lingered slightly further along from the dodgy shed looking building that teenagers tended to use for less than law abiding activities. Nobody cared much though. With thieves, murderers and mobsters on every street, who cares about a couple of naughty kids? So Charlie and Tanya walked up the grassy incline to the top of the park, where there was a little shop that sold the cheapest sweets and the best home-made fudge.

As the two entered, with Charlie deep in thought about her Chemistry homework that was due, and Tanya wittering on about Brad to Charlie, who she (incorrectly) assumed was paying attention, the bell above the door tinkled out a merry few chimes and the two split to go look at separate isles.

Charlie took the isle dedicated to the fudge. Charlie picked two bars of vanilla and one bar of Smarties and Cadburys. The chocolate laden bar for her and the two vanilla's for Tanya. Charlie stood from her crouching position from picking the cavity making sweets and wobbled slightly from the sudden change in height. She felt herself stumble backwards and prepared for the inevitable fall on her butt.

But it didn't come.

She felt a pressure under her legs and on the small of her back, she felt herself become weightless and the floor become further away.

She looked to thank her saviour and almost gagged at the unfortunate luck she was having that day.

Jack. Bloody. Goddamn. Napier.

Oh great...

"Uh, thanks and all, and not to sound ungrateful or anything, but could you please put me down?" She ended up asking him, when she really should have told him to put her the hell down, and in future let her clumsy ass fall. But she didn't. She was far too concerned with getting her feet on solid ground to come up with witty retorts. Plus he was holding her bridal style which made a whole host of new ideas and daydreams come to mind.

Dammit.

"With pleasure, doll." He lowered her to her feet, but in doing so his hand slid over her butt in what Charlie didn't know if it was an accident or not.

"How is it you're always there when I am? Are you following me?" she was only half joking.

"I work here. Remember I said I had to get to work. I wasn't lying." He said, gesturing to his work apron which covered his chest down to the middle of his thighs. It was a dark green color and was tied with a simple purple tie. Charlie hated to admit it, but the colours really made him look good. Which was kind of weird, most guys couldn't pull off purple.

Charlie looked at the fudge in her hand, now completely crushed in her palm from where she'd squeezed it so much when she'd almost fell. He grinned at her sullen face as she regarded her crushed candy. He stepped around her and sank to his knees; he picked up the same combination of fudge from the shelf. As he rose back up from his kneeling position, he, seemingly deliberately made sure he was facing her as he rose. Meaning his face was inches away from her legs, thighs, crotch, stomach, chest and finally face as he stood back up to his normal height. As he practically slid up her body, she felt her cheeks flush as she thought of a whole manner of things she'd like him to do on his knees.

Jesus Christ! When had she started thinking like that! She'd never even kissed a guy yet!

Once he was fully stood up, Charlie really noticed how bloody tall he was. He towered over her average height, and again she had images float into mind of him having to lift her up to his height, into his arms so she could kiss him and-

He handed the candy to her with a wink, "On the house. Consider it a replacement for the usual box of chocolates and a flower."

"Chocolates and a flower for what?" Charlie asked, taking the candy from him, still flustered and avoiding eye contact with him, lest she melt into a puddle of hormones, which is what she fully blamed for all her dirty thoughts.

"For asking a date to a dance." He smirked. "Pick you up at six tomorrow?" He said and walked through a heavy-looking wooden door into what Charlie assumed to be some kind of store room or break room.

Charlie stood in shock and was only snapped out of her dreamlike state when she felt Tanya's arms wrap around her and crush her in a vice-like grip. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!" Tanya giggled happily. "Now me and Brad, you and Jack can double! Oh, it's gonna be perfect! Now, come on. No time to waste, we have to get over to mine and choose you a dress. I'm thinking blue; it'll make your eyes pop. Oh, or maybe that pale pink one, that'll really compliment your skin tone." Tanya kept on rambling to herself about dress colors as she practically dragged Charlie out of the shop and in the direction of her house.

So now, not only did Charlie have a date to a dance she didn't want to be at, with a boy she hated. Now she'd have to endure hours of swapping dresses, shoes and makeup, and then debating hair and accessories.

Goddamnit.

**FINALLY! AN UPDATE!**

**I did it, I know it took a while, and I know I must have pissed some people off with that AN. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have a stupid brain and I felt as it I should post something, So, I did that. It won't happen again. But do add me as a friend on Facebook, then if you ever want to ask me about the story you can go on chat or if you want to see why I'm taking so bloody long, you can ask me too. Maybe even drop me a few ideas you want to see. Maybe I'll put them in, you never know.**

**Thanks as always to my awesome Beta Somniac7, for making sure I don't mess up and look like a tit.**

**Joker: Why do I only get the tiniest parts in this?**

**Me: Because you aren't the main character.**

**Joker: But, it's my fanfiction. It's my bloody world you're in now.**

**Me: Yes, but Charlie is the main character. Jesus, stop being such a Limelight whore.**

**Joker: But the readers want me to have more time in it!**

**Me: Prove it.**

**Joker: Guys, you need to review and tell her you want more of me in the story, okay?**

**Me: Now who's the one desperate for reviews...**

**Joker: SHUT UP OR I'LL CUT YOUR FUCKING TITS OFF!**

**Me:...**

**Sooooo, anyway, drop a review before I become even more flat-chested than I already am...**


End file.
